ATI 9800 Pro, first batch or wait

[savyj]

I'm actually contemplating doing something I said I wouldn't do and pre-ordering a piece of hardware, the ATI 9800 Pro. My only rationale is that the 9800 Pro's are esentially a refreshed/tweaked version of a tried and true device so risk is minimal. Having said that, should I pre-order now or wait for the 256mb DDR-II version? What's your opinions? I'll be upgrading from a GF4 Ti-4200. Normally I buy the lower-upper class hardware to save some moolah but this time I have a little extra cash and want flagship bragging rights for once. It's sitting on a Athlon XP @ 1.645ghz but I'll soon upgrade this as well. Time lines would be helpful if anyone has any new insight.

[-=DVS=-]

I would suggest waiting , GF4200 not to bad , should keep you alive for few more months , :D

I my self have Radeon9700Pro and want to see something alot faster R400 :D to bad it woun't come out soon :(

[Red Dog]

I pre-ordered my 9800pro......

now I just have to figure out how I can stay around here without pssn people off. I love nvnews and would hate for a 9800 to drive a wedge. I guess I might just have to remain silent regarding it in order to remain considerate.

Mike, can we change Nv news to a generic vid card site? just kidding....well not really....just a little. :rolleyes:

Im still kinda pssed at Nvidia for not giving us a 5800 ultra when they gave them to other sites.

[The Baron]

Two out of Two Solomons/People Who Can Think Like Solomon Agree--256MB DDR2 R9800Pros ARE Better! :D

And you're complaining about a Ti4200... I'd KILL for a 4200 in my box right now. ;)

[savyj]

I'm not complaining...my Ti4200 has been a GREAT card. However, I really enjoy well performing computer systems, it's my primary hobby and as a software engineer I've finally started making some decent money, so I wanted to try besting the jones for a month or two. I have two brothers and a cousin that I hang with and we are all pretty competitive in the who has what hardware warz. We're not quite crazed yet, just a friendly way to spend our hard earned cash. I'd like to wait for the 256mb DDR-II card but I don't want to wait TOO LONG. Plus, I could always offload my first 9800Pro on a relative and snag the 256mb when it comes out for maybe $150-200 (i.e. sell my 128mb 9800 Pro for $250-300 and snag the 256mb model for the difference). The 9800 Pro's are shooting for start of April right? When are the 256mb DDR-II models supposedly going to ship?

[savyj]

Originally posted by Red Dog
now I just have to figure out how I can stay around here without pssn people off. I love nvnews and would hate for a 9800 to drive a wedge. I guess I might just have to remain silent regarding it in order to remain considerate.

Mike, can we change Nv news to a generic vid card site? just kidding....well not really....just a little. :rolleyes:


You won't piss most people off unless you talk smack and make posts without a decent amount of informational or inquisitive content, at least not the people that matter :)

I also wonder about the status of nvnews as a fan site as they seem to be one of the better overall hardware sites IMHO and aren't nearly as biased towards their chosen manufacturer as some other fan sites out there (IMHO) -- which seems like a good thing to me.

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by savyj

one of the better overall hardware sites IMHO and aren't nearly as biased towards their chosen manufacturer as some other fan sites out there

thats exactly what i was thinking. I know this is a nv fan site but I cant help feeling betrayed by Nvidia regarding the 5800 review card situation. I love nvidia, but they dont seem to be showing us the love here at nvn. I thought surely we would be one of the first, if not the first, to recieve a review card.

maybe we would get more review hardware if we were a non-fansite. not just from nvidia, maybe from ati.

I know this sounds like blasphemy, it does to me too. I just cant help but feel this way a little.

really I should keep my mouth shut about it, in a way its kind of messed up to propose......and I am grateful this is nvnews.

[Woodelf]

I think these are the most volitile times that Ive seen (concerning
card warfare). Personally, I'm waiting (if I can) untill the reviews come out for the 256MB. I'm guessing for the release date to be around the end of april. So I figure that by Mid april, an educated guess could be made.

[ChrisW]

I would recommend you never pre-order anything.

[SurfMonkey]

If this was the first gen of a brand new product, then I'd recommend waiting and not pre-order. But since the 9800 is, for all intents and purposes, a refresh of the 9700 and the PCB glitches were ironed out pretty quickly I'd say go for it.

What you doin with your 4200 afterwards? ;)

[starfury6]

I for one plan on waiting for the 256MB DDR-II version. It's not quite as bad to pre-order this card for the reasons that have been stated before. I came unstuck with the original GF256 Creative Blaster Pro and there were loads of problems with the Super7 platform I was using at the time. I have a GF3 at the moment with a TBird 1.4 It's only now that I've started to have rpoblems running games fast enough (UT2003, Unreal 2 etc) So a whole new machine is coming my way when the 256 MB version is available!

[starfury6]

If you're interested.........
AMD Athlon XP2700+ 2.2 GHz 333 MHz bus
Maxtor IDE ATA-133 120GB 7200RPM - DiamondMax Plus 9
Asus A7N8X Deluxe/GD mainboard Socket A
NEC CD recorder IDE 48x/24x/48x 'JUST LINK'
2 x TwinMOS PC2700 DDR-DIMM 256MB CL2 (29.26 each)
GlobalWin CAK4-88T
Lian-Li PC-60
350W Enermax EG365P-VE PSU
Thermaltake Athlon XP Copper Shim
Radeon 9800Pro DDR-II 256MB

I aready have a DVD drive, floppy drive and Nice new Iiyamma Synchmaster 19" Monitor.

[PreservedSwine]

I'm still kicking myself for not ordering an R9700PRO 7 months ago....had decided to wait until the NV30....... great choice that turned out to be:rolleyes:

That being said....

Now I'm waiting for the NV35 to come out before I make my next purchase.........My little old R8500 is starting to get a little long in the tooth..getting tougher to wait every day...

[savyj]

Originally posted by SurfMonkey
What you doin with your 4200 afterwards? ;)

The Ti4200 will go into my secondary system and it's GF3 Ti200 will go into the new system for the kids room ;) At least that's today's plan...I tend to change plans often. I'm trying to piece together three game-able workstations, one server and one laptop. I've got two game-able workstations, half a server and my "work" lap-top (isn't really mine) so I'm over half way there :)

[MikeC]

Originally posted by Red Dog
I pre-ordered my 9800pro......

now I just have to figure out how I can stay around here without pssn people off. I love nvnews and would hate for a 9800 to drive a wedge. I guess I might just have to remain silent regarding it in order to remain considerate.

Mike, can we change Nv news to a generic vid card site? just kidding....well not really....just a little. :rolleyes:

Im still kinda pssed at Nvidia for not giving us a 5800 ultra when they gave them to other sites.

I also preordered a 9800 Pro. I had a 9700 Pro that AMD sent me with the nForce2 review unit, but I gave it to Chalnoth.

I'll still like you guys no matter what kind of card you have. Your welcome at nV News.:)

[ZoinKs!]

Originally posted by SurfMonkey
If this was the first gen of a brand new product, then I'd recommend waiting and not pre-order. But since the 9800 is, for all intents and purposes, a refresh of the 9700 and the PCB glitches were ironed out pretty quickly I'd say go for it. It's my understanding that the 9800pro ddr2 is using a new or newly tweaked pcb. Mufu would be the one to clear that up for us.

[Red Dog]

just remembered the 9800pro is going in my Asus NF2.

Woooot!

Im still an Nvidiot!

so instead of saying "man that 9800pro is a bad ass card" I will just say things like "wow the 9800pro kicks major azz on my nf2"

I still feel kinda dirty about ordering it though....

[The Baron]

Meh, best card out right now.

We'll see when NV35 rolls around. And then we'll see again when the 256MB DDR2 R350 rolls around. ;)

[SurfMonkey]

Originally posted by ZoinKs!
It's my understanding that the 9800pro ddr2 is using a new or newly tweaked pcb. Mufu would be the one to clear that up for us.

If they are using DDRII for the new PCB them I would guess that either they increase the number of layers to make up for signal degredation or they decrease the memory clock. Either way, seeign how Artx have performed for ATi I would guess they have got some pretty good idea about how to maximise performance and minimise cost\complexity.

[muzz]

Originally posted by The Baron
Meh, best card out right now.

We'll see when NV35 rolls around. And then we'll see again when the 256MB DDR2 R350 rolls around. ;)

All I care about is them keeping each other on their toes myself...

Or else we get the old Intel thing all over again....... we'll still be using 500 mhz vcards in ten years if that happens.....

[GlowStick]

Generally for preorders id stay away.

They just use them to hype a prodcut, what will happen is when you go to pick up your product in the store they will say "ok, pick one from that big oll box of em we have sitting out front and we will ring it up for you" or something.

Whats more funny is when i preordred a game from EB i got it 2 days after it was in their stores. They mailed them to you and you cant 'pick it up from the store' or something liek that.

The only acception could be about the PS2 where they really were limited, but that dosent happen with alot of products.

[Philibob]

The only reason I wait is to see if there are any problems with the card mixed with any other hardware, early driver problems etc.
I will get a 9800PRO though, a GF2MX just isn't fast enough anymore :o

[savyj]

Hmmm...OK here's a thought. Will the NV35 come out before the 256MB DDR-II 9800Pro? Anyone have an educated guess? If it does I think I'll be getting a 9800Pro for sure as soon as they ship and then I can decide whether or not to get a NV35/Super 9800 Pro later.

[mongoled]

Originally posted by MikeC
I also preordered a 9800 Pro. I had a 9700 Pro that AMD sent me with the nForce2 review unit, but I gave it to Chalnoth.

What did u do that for?

:eek:

What a waste

;)

Oh well maybe one day he will see his bias.

:p

[Lezmaka]

Originally posted by savyj
Hmmm...OK here's a thought. Will the NV35 come out before the 256MB DDR-II 9800Pro? Anyone have an educated guess? If it does I think I'll be getting a 9800Pro for sure as soon as they ship and then I can decide whether or not to get a NV35/Super 9800 Pro later.

There's no way NV35 will be coming out before the 256MB 9800. That's supposed to be announced in April/May, while I'm expecting a paper launch of NV35 no earlier than late may, early june, but who really knows when NV35 will actually be announced.